


Like It’s Gold

by MissMacaron



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-08-20 07:42:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20224270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMacaron/pseuds/MissMacaron
Summary: When Byleth agrees to be the residential advisor for a dorm at Garreg Mach University, she doesn’t expect the dumpster fire that awaits her, or how fond she’ll come to be of it.





	1. Stay Gold

It had taken less effort than it probably should have to get Byleth transferred to the prestigious Garreg Mach University. Or, it would have taken more effort had her father, Jeralt, not agreed to be a professor at the school, in addition to Byleth’s stellar grades at her small beach town college and her agreement to be a residential advisor. She’d also lined up an agreement to be a teacher’s aide for some of her father’s classes. The president of the university, Rhea, accepted all of these terms with open arms, and in no time, Byleth became a junior at GMU. 

Byleth anticipated smooth sailing, but she also knew not to be too comfortable in her new surroundings. Jeralt had made that much clear; he wasn’t sure how long their stay at the school would be. Still, the contract had them for the whole year, barring any unforeseen incidents. 

Rhea had approached Byleth shortly after the arrangements had been made, and explained to her how being a freshman RA would work.

“There are three freshman dorms; Leicester, Adrestian, and Faerghus. In the spirit of bringing students together for a common cause, the freshmen have a year-long competition between the three dorms. The teams are referred to as the Golden Deer, Black Eagles, and Blue Lions, respectively. Each dorm also has a head student, an incoming freshman that we have chosen based on their academic and extracurricular endeavors at their previous schools. Like the other residential assistants, these head students will be moving in early, so you will get to meet them before you choose which dorm you’ll live in.” 

After such a lengthy explanation, Rhea’s posture seemed to relax. “Pardon my eruditeness, but I believe you’ll have your work cut out for you, whichever dorm you may be placed in.”

Byleth just nodded. She never shied away from a challenge.

  
  
  


Then, she met them.

The potential RA’s and the head students of each house ate dinner together that night. The other two RA’s were a man and a woman by the names of Alois and Catherine. They seemed to know each other, and bantered consistently while the six of them were getting settled.

The first of the head students was a blonde boy by the name of Dimitri. He greeted Byleth in an almost stiff, formal way, before sitting down opposite her. Alois and Catherine sat on either side of him. This meant that the other two head students would be sitting on either side of Byleth. She wondered what they would be like, and when they would arrive.

She didn’t have to wonder for long.

“Claude, I can’t believe we had to go all the way back to Leicester just to get your phone.”

“You didn’t have to come with me, Edelgard.”

“I absolutely did. You can’t be left alone for five minutes without some scheme of yours taking form.” As the two new voices bickered, they took their places on either side of Byleth. 

Across the table, Dimitri cracked a smile. “Be on time or keep Claude out of trouble. I see where your allegiances lie.”

“Someone has to.”

Dimitri coughed then, and nodded with his head to the woman the two of them had just flanked. 

“Oh! How rude of me. Nice to meet you, my name is Edelgard von Hresvelg.” Edelgard held out her hand, which Byleth shook. After a moment of silence, the head student coughed, and the person to Byleth’s left started.

“Right! I’m Claude von Riegan. The pleasure’s all mine.” He winked and held out his hand, but rather than shake, once Byleth put her hand in his own, he lifted it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. The act drew a groan from both Dimitri and Edelgard, and Byleth simply raised an eyebrow.

Claude cleared his throat, stepping back. “Anyway, by process of elimination, you must be Byleth, Jeralt’s daughter. We met Alois and Catherine this morning, while you were arriving.”

“Claude!” Dimitri started. Edelgard followed up with “Don’t refer to the professor by his first name!”

Byleth offered a barely-there smile. “Yes. I’m Byleth Eisner, daughter of Jeralt Eisner. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

  
  
  


Dinner went off without a hitch. The banter between the three head students was lively, as was the chatter between Alois and Catherine. Byleth almost let herself believe that she could relax, but she kept a firm hold on herself all the same. Claude seemed to be hell-bent on causing some kind of trouble, but Edelgard and Dimitri kept him in check. Once the meal was over, the freshmen hung around, but Catherine and Alois shooed them away.

“We need to talk with our fellow RA, everyone. You’ll find out soon enough which of us is in your dorm,” Catherine asserted. Begrudgingly, the three left, but not before Claude sent a wink and a salute towards Byleth.

“So,” Catherine began once they were out of sight, “what did you think of them?”

Byleth just shrugged. She’d reserve judgement for now.

Alois bellowed a laugh. “They’re a lively bunch! Certainly a step up from the heads that have been in years past.”

“That they are. We need to report to Rhea to get our assignments now.” Catherine turned to Byleth. “They keep the assignments a secret until the RAs meet with the heads. It keeps us from getting too chummy at the dinner.”

“I pity whoever gets that troublemaker. They’ll have their work cut out for them!” Alois chuckled. Catherine shushed him with a simple “it could be you”, which stopped him in his tracks.

When they got to Rhea’s office, however, the woman was nowhere to be found. Seteth was there instead, a man who Byleth had only seen in passing. He seemed in a rush, and pushed an envelope to each of them. 

“Rhea was called away on business, which is where I should be as well. Here are your assignments. Now, I must bid you goodnight.”

As Seteth rushed down the hall, the three RAs looked at each other and shrugged. Catherine held out her envelope. 

“Well? On three?”

Alois counted them down, and they tore open their envelopes. The gilt on Byleth’s information told her right away who she had.

The Golden Deer.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: dorm décor.


	2. Hills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth takes on her first challenge as RA. The semester hasn’t even technically started yet.

The single-person room that Byleth was assigned was nearly as bare-bones after she moved in as before. She didn’t have many personal effects, and so no pictures were placed on the wall, no trinkets on the desk. She moved in quickly and efficiently, and when she was done, she decided to walk around the dorm and familiarize herself.

The bottommost floor of the dorm was a lobby and sitting room, furnished with plush-looking furniture upholstered in gold. It almost made Byleth laugh at the dedication to the theme of Golden Deer, and she did crack a smile at the antlers mounted above the fireplace in the back of the room. A double staircase ran up to a landing that circled the lobby, and more stairs led up from there to the first floor of dorms. There were four floors total, with ten rooms on each floor except for the top, which only had nine, the middle of which was Byleth’s. She walked up and down each hallway, taking up her first RA duty, which was labeling the doors with the corresponding student’s name. She did this methodically and efficiently, as she did most things.

When she made it to the top floor, a voice stopped her.

“I was going to help you move in, but it seems like you don’t need any help.” Claude came out of the room two down from hers. He walked up to her and smiled, but then gawked at what she was doing.

“This isn’t all you’re doing, is it?”

Byleth shrugged, but the twitch of her brows did betray some confusion. “Isn’t this enough?”

Claude shook his head dramatically. “No, no, no! Didn’t your RA at your old school decorate your dorm?”

“I didn’t live in a dorm. I commuted from home.” Byleth nonchalantly shrugged one shoulder.

Claude covered his eyes. A moment passed, and Byleth was about to ask if he was alright, when he flung his arms out and declared; “It’s time for a late-night shopping run!”

“For what? And it’s 9 PM, that’s hardly late.”

“Dorm decor, of course!” Claude grabbed her hand and turned, pulling her along.

Byleth yanked her hand back and didn’t budge. Claude turned back to her, crossing his arms and grinning. 

“I’m not sure if I see the point. Wouldn’t simply labeling the doors suffice?” Byleth frowned.

Claude looked thoughtful. “Think of it this way. Wouldn’t you like a warm welcome when you enter a new space? I mean, didn’t I give you a warm welcome, and don’t you want to share that? It’s good to boost morale. Studies show that students who have well-decorated dorms do better in school.”

Byleth’s expression was completely vague. Claude combatted that with a brilliant smile, and a few seconds passed in silence. Finally, he broke.

“Man, I can’t read you at all. But yeah, you got me. The first competition is best-decorated dorm.”

Byleth’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly. “Nobody told me that.”

Claude pointed to Byleth’s door, where an envelope was taped. She took it down and opened it, reading the message from Seteth inside before taking out the rest of the contents, which amounted to $250.

Claude looked over her shoulder. “Man, that’s all we got? They’re skimping this year.”

The note detailed that the first task in the freshman dorm competition was for the head student and RA to work together to decorate the halls of the dorms. Examples of decorations past were listed, and a final caveat dictated that no personal funds could be used to buy more decoration supplies, and all that was allowed to be used was the supplied amount.

Claude immediately pulled out his phone and started typing. “We’ll need streamers, tape, deer motifs,  _ obviously _ … all gold. And black. Any other ideas?”

Byleth looked like she was concentrating hard. Claude let her think, waiting until she was ready to speak.

“No.”

Claude groaned, smiling. “You’re killing me. Come on, we need to go. We have our work cut out for us.” He reached out his hand to her, and he gave her a wink. This time, she offered her hand, too, and he took it.

  
  
  


Claude drove. His car was compact and black. The car smelled heavily of a very strong air freshener, with a distinct odor just hidden underneath.

“Smells like weed in here,” Byleth said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Claude said, not missing a beat. He offered the aux chord to her. “Wanna DJ?”

Byleth waved her hand. “I don’t really listen to music much.”

Claude gasped. “No music? We’re changing that right now.” He scrolled through his phone, a concentrated look on his face. Byleth watched, intrigued, as he selected each song thoughtfully. A few times, he’d look up and meet her gaze, looking as if he was studying her, before going back to his task.

Five minutes passed in this manner.

Claude put his phone on the center console and pressed “play”. A song Byleth vaguely recognized started playing, and Claude watched her expression. After a moment, he sighed, looking forward and putting the car into gear. “You’re a tough nut to crack. I can’t get a read on you at all. Even now, I can’t tell if you like what I’ve chosen for you.”

“It’s fine.”

“Is it?”

Byleth raised an eyebrow, but Claude didn’t say anything else. A small smirk graced his features. 

She stared forward, watching the streetlights as they passed. The song ended, and another began. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She turned to him.

“Huh?”

“I said ‘it’s fine’ and you said ‘is it?’. What’s that supposed to mean?”

Claude shrugged. “Are you just going to pass up opportunities to connect with people because you don’t want to express your opinion? That’s not going to get you very far.”

“That’s not it.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not that I don’t express my opinions. Trust me, Claude von Riegan, when I have an opinion, you’ll hear it.” He cracked a smile at that, one that seemed more genuine. “I just don’t… really… have opinions, sometimes. Some things aren’t that important to me.”

“Or maybe, you just haven’t let them be important.” He looked at her for a second before looking back to the road. “It’s okay, you know. To care about those things.”

  
  
  


As soon as they got a shopping cart, Claude jumped in it.

“Claude, get out of the cart.”

Ignoring her, he pointed forward and said; “Onward! To the craft aisle!”

Byleth left him in the cart and went to get a new one.

Claude followed after her on foot. “Aw, you’re no fun.”

“Didn’t you say we needed to get supplies quickly so we would have more time to decorate?”

“Fair enough.” He bolted ahead, and when Byleth got to the craft aisle, he already had arms full of ribbon, streamers, gold paint, and black paper. He dumped everything in the cart. Byleth looked over everything, running a quick mental tally.

“Everything look good?” Claude asked.

Byleth looked at him blankly. “I’m not the authority on this.”

“Oho,” Claude laughed, “But you are.”

She paused.

“Shit.”

“Don’t worry, if you’re at a loss, I’ve got it all planned out.” He winked, putting an arm around her shoulders and directing her to the checkout counter.

  
  
  


The work was impressive. Byleth didn’t let herself stop to take it all in until they were done, at nearly three in the morning. They’d managed to turn the hallways into forests, made up of black trees with gold leaves. A few deer-head silhouettes popped out from various trunks, with glowing golden eyes. A canopy of streamers hung from above in a zig-zag pattern. Finally, each door had the occupant’s name in a swirling golden script. 

“We did it,” she said, slumping against a wall. Claude grinned, and then ducked into his room. He emerged within moments, beckoning her to follow. Something was clutched under his arm.

He led her to the balcony, a wrought-iron fence surrounding stone floors that jutted out from the dorm and overlooked the quad. The other two dorm buildings were visible from where they stood.

Claude held out a bottle. “A reward for a hard night’s work?”

Byleth quirked an eyebrow. “There’s no alcohol allowed in the dorm buildings. Are you really going to offer contraband to your resident advisor, who could get you in trouble?”

He adjusted his grip so that the cool base of the bottle was against her forehead, and he smiled teasingly. “I trust you.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it, and simply took the bottle. Looking around for a moment, she bent down and used one of the curved bits of metal on the fence to take the top off. Claude whistled.

“What a power move. I did bring a bottle opener, though.” Before he could brandish the tool, however, Byleth took his bottle from him and opened it the same way. He simply raised his eyebrows when she handed it back to him.

“Power move,” she said by way of explanation. “I’m asserting my dominance.”

Immediately upon saying that, she flushed and took a swig to hide it, but the situation was only made worse by Claude’s next comment.

“You can assert your dominance over me any time.”

Byleth choked on her sip, sputtering and coughing. When she recovered, Claude had the decency to look embarrassed. 

“That was… inappropriate. Sorry. The jokes just kind of slip out sometimes; I can’t always control it.”

To his delight, though, Byleth smiled, holding a hand to her face to hide a few short giggles before regaining her composure, and the two continued in the night in companionable silence.

  
  
  


For a time.

“Want a hit?” Claude held out a baggie. Byleth fixed him with a deadpan look, entirely unimpressed.

“Claude, that’s oregano.”

“Shit! You found me out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: party time. 
> 
> Can you tell I’m out of practice in writing?


	3. Take A Little Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth’s never been to a party.

“No. Absolutely not.”

Edelgard shook her head along with her friend, a brunette who had just introduced herself to Byleth as Dorothea. She was the one who had spoken.

“What does it matter if I’m not going?” Byleth asked.

“Oh, you’re going,” Edelgard said.

“I’m pretty sure it’s a conflict of interest to go to a party where the students in my building, under my care, will be breaking the rules. Or are you hoping I’ll catch them and get them in trouble?”

“A party is a, a,” Dorothea snapped her fingers, “Oh, what’s the legal term?”

“Sanctuary?” Edelgard supplied.

“No, that’s not it. Like a place where laws are suspended.”

“Amnesty.”

“No.”

“Nudum pactum.”

“No! Forget it. Anyway,” Dorothea said, waving her hand, “The point is, you’re not going to get in trouble for not being on duty while at the party. Sure, if you’re called, you have to answer, but so long as what you see isn’t, you know, dangerously illegal.”

Byleth raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “And what constitutes ‘dangerously illegal’?”

“Use your discretion.” Dorothea grinned. 

“Sua sponte.”

“Stop.”

“Nemo iudex in causa sua.”

“Enough with the Latin legal speak!” Dorothea threw up her arms. Edelgard just smirked. “Look,” the brunette turned her attention back to Byleth, “The first week of classes is over, and that’s cause enough to celebrate. Being an RA is only going to get harder from here on out, so why not have a little fun while you can?”

Byleth would have continued arguing, but she knew she was lucky to just be getting it from Dorothea in that moment. She’d already seen how ferociously and decisively Edelgard could argue from the International Politics class Byleth was TA’ing, where Edelgard was a student. She sighed. 

“Okay, fine. I’ll go.” She saw the two girls’ faces light up. “... So what should I wear, if this doesn’t cut it?”

She was referring to her T-shirt and sweatpants, which, while being a comfy choice when she was lounging in her room, was also her outfit of choice for dissuading the partygoers from dragging her along. Dorothea immediately marched to Byleth’s closet and threw it open, while Edelgard went to her desk, where a scant amount of makeup sat. Dorothea intercepted her, holding a few clothes items on her arm and putting her free hand on Edelgard’s.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got makeup covered.” She nodded to her backpack, which she’d put on the ground as soon as she’d walked into Byleth’s room. She dumped the clothes on Byleth’s bed and then stuck her head out of the door and into the hallway, shouting; “Hilda?”

“Yeah?” Came a muffled response.

“You wanna hello us help Byleth get ready for the party?”

“Oh  _ hell- _ ” a door slammed, and suddenly Hilda was in the doorway, “-yes.”

Things quite fairly descended into chaos after that.

  
  
  


The music could be heard from down the street. Multicolored lights lit up the trees around the house, which seemed to shiver from the sheer amount of bass playing. Byleth pursed her lips. When she enrolled at GMU, she’d figured she could handle any situation a cushy school could throw at her, but the social life was something a loner wasn’t prepared for. Not to mention the fact that the posse she’d joined up with, which consisted of Dorothea, Edelgard, Hilda, Ingrid, Leonie, Mercedes, Annette, and Petra, was an already-drunk, boisterous group. 

Edelgard stepped up to the door and presented her ID, and she was given an X on her hand to mark that she was underage. The rest of the girls followed suit, even Byleth, and were all given the same treatment. As soon as she stepped through the door, however, Byleth was dragged aside by Edelgard into a bathroom. From the pocket of her jacket, Edelgard presented a makeup-remover wipe and took Byleth’s hand.

“Dorothea gave these to me; the theatre students definitely know how to remove makeup.” She wiped the X off and then pulled out a tube of concealer, dabbing it over the spot to cover any lingering redness from the chemicals. When she was done, she patted Byleth’s hand and then turned, disappearing from the bathroom and into the crowd.

Byleth felt stranded, vaguely uncomfortable in such an environment. She drifted, following the crowd, until she found herself in the kitchen with a cold can pressed into her hand. She popped the tab and took a sip, drifting further into the crowd and into and out of conversations.

“-I can’t believe-”

“-got so close to-”

“-and they were roommates-”

“-would you guess that-”

“-he had to go-”

“-barbecue sauce on my titties-”

“-doing?”

“Huh?” Byleth turned when a hand landed on her shoulder. One elbow raised to the head-area of the person who touched her, and Claude brought his hands up…

“Whoa, whoa, sorry! Remind me not to sneak up on you.”

Byleth relaxed her arms. “Sorry. I’m just not used to people touching me.”

“Don’t take that out of context,” Claude said before taking a sip of his drink. He offered it to Byleth. “Want some?”

She took hold of the red plastic cup in her free hand, peering at the contents. Whatever it was, it was dark-colored and had foam at the top. She sniffed it; there was a strong odor of alcohol and fruit.”

“Tub juice,” Claude explained. “The less you know about what’s in it, the better.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is it safe?”

“It’s alcohol, so no.” He took the cup back and took a big swallow, then handed it back to her. “There. Now, if it’s not safe, we’re both in trouble.”

Byleth shrugged, guard lowered a bit from the beer she’d already been drinking, and she took a sip. Immediately, she frowned; it was sweet as syrup. Claude laughed at her expression.

“How do you tolerate that? I’ll stick to beer, thanks.”

Claude shrugged. “Once you’re drunk enough, flavor doesn’t bother you.”

“I’m not at that point yet.”

He grinned. “Then let’s get you there.” He grabbed at her hand and dragged her along, a mirror of their first night. This time, she followed.

  
  
  


They were in a small room off to the side, away from the music and crowds. Sitting on the floor around a cup and a circle of cards were some familiar faces; Dimitri, Edelgard, and Hubert were from the class Byleth TA’d, and Dedue was always waiting for Dimitri after class. Sitting on the sofa in the room was Dorothea, and a green-haired boy (Linhardt, if memory served, was his name, but he never participated in class) sat next to her. They looked as if they were conspiring, Dorothea grinning and Linhardt sleepily nodding along. Hilda sat on the ground in front of Petra, a foreign student, who sat in an armchair and braided Hilda’s hair.

“Sorry for abandoning you before,” Edelgard said. “Glad you found a friend.”

Claude gasped dramatically. “How dare you strand our poor TA to the savage college party wasteland!”

Edelgard looked indignant. “I didn’t know!” She addressed Byleth again. “You’re so cool and calm under pressure, I didn’t realize you’d never been to a party before.”

Byleth shrugged. “No big deal. What’s everyone doing?”

“Braiding hair,” Petra said.

“Playing Circle of Death,” Dedue offered.

“Trying to get some weed,” Dorothea explained, to which Linhardt snapped awake. “Dorothea!”

Byleth looked to Edelgard. “Sanctuary?”

Edelgard smiled. “Amnesty? Who knows.”

The TA turned to Linhardt. “I won’t tell.”

Dorothea sighed, flopping over on the sofa. “How did the Deer end up with such a chill RA? Catherine’d probably skin us alive if she found out.”

“Give her more credit,” Edelgard argued. Dimitri cleared his throat. “Should we get back to the game?”

Claude sat in the circle, motioning for Byleth to join him. “You ever play Circle of Death? King Cup? Ring of Fire?”

Byleth shook her head.

“They’re all the same,” Hubert explained. “Each card has a rule, and those who don’t follow the rule when the card is drawn drink. And,” he gestured to the cup in the middle, “the last king drawn must drink out of the cup. Speaking of which, please pour some of your drinks into the cup.”

Claude looked at Byleth for a reaction, but she gave none. She dutifully poured some beer into the frankly disgusting mixture in the large cup, and then met Hubert’s eye.

“What’re the rules?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: not a student. 
> 
> Come yell with me on twitter @themarygan


End file.
